Culture of the game is "stuck in a time of intolerance" says Danish goalkeeper – and homosexual players still hiding from bigots on the terraces

Breaking barriers: Anders Lindegaard the Manchester United keeper has written about football's lingering bigotry regarding homosexuals

Manchester United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard says fear of the intolerance of supporters is stopping gay footballers from coming out of the closet – and that has to be addressed for the good of the game.

The Danish cat reportedly argues that football is mired in the bigotry of a bygone age, where among other misconceptions, being homosexual is still confused with being effeminate - and that it's time for gay players to stand up and be counted.

To date the only 'out' player at the highest level of the English game was the late Justin Fashanu, who found his Nottingham Forest boss Brian Clough notably antagonistic in the early 1980s.

Despite widespread social, cultural and legal enlightenment since, the fear that coming out could be professionally damaging is alive and well decades later – for example, the US player David Testo, who came out in 2011, reportedly regards that decision as effectively killing his career.

According to a report by the Press Association, Lindegaard addressed the issue in a blog published on the Danish version of the Betfair website.

The PA reports that the 28-year-old said: "As a footballer I think first and foremost that a homosexual colleague is afraid of the reception he could get from the fans.

"My impression is that the players would not have a problem accepting a homosexual.

"Homosexuality in football is a taboo subject. The atmosphere on the pitch and in the stands is tough. The mechanisms are primitive, and it is often expressed through a classic stereotype that a real man should be brave, strong and aggressive. And it is not the image that a football fan associates with a gay person.

"The problem for me is that a lot of football fans are stuck in a time of intolerance that does not deserve to be compared with modern society's development in the last decades.

"While the rest of the world has been more liberal, civilised and less prejudiced, the world of football remains stuck in the past when it comes to tolerance."

"Homosexuals are in need of a hero. They are in need of someone who dares to stand up for their sexuality."